The Saint Jo track team was the only school to represent Montague County at the state meet in Austin this past weekend.
The Panthers had four boys competing in two running events, with one pulling double-duty.
For Collin Thomas, it was not his first time competing at a state level athletics event. Thomas has qualified for the state cross country meet three times so far, finishing 10th this past fall.
This year it was his first time qualifying for the state track meet, running the much shorter 800 meter race, or two full times around the track. Thomas would end up finishing ninth with a time of 2.08.31.
Unfortunately, it was about five seconds off his personal best he ran at the regional meet to qualify for state. Still, he had one more race to run.
The 4×400 relay team was made up of Dylan Brockman, Devin Stewart, Kile Thurman and Thomas. It was also the last event of the whole state meet and is a favorite since there are possibilities for comebacks with every runner completing one full lap around the track.
The Panthers qualified for the state meet by winning the regional meet by less than half second against second place Gorman.
Saint Jo would have needed a huge drop in its time if it wanted to get in medal contention, but instead were a couple seconds slower than its regional time with 3:39.27. It was still good enough for eighth place and the team beat Gorman again by a bigger margin.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.